Malia Bouattia, the NUS president. ‘Surely she can appreciate that her use of such language and tropes might help reinforce negative stereotypes of Judaism and Jewish people,’ writes Alec Burt.
Photograph: NUS/PA

The comment by the president of Birmingham University Jewish Society that “when someone attacks Zionism they’re indirectly attacking Judaism as a religion, because the two go hand in hand” (Jewish students call for apology from head of NUS for ‘past rhetoric’, 22 April) makes a totally invalid equation. Zionism is a political project that indeed has the support of many Jews and some, particularly evangelical, Christians. But it has to be recognised as a political project and therefore must be open to criticism and opposition by both Jews and others. It cannot be regarded as beyond reproach. Such an approach would place it in a position similar to Communism within China: a state shibboleth that you risk prison to criticise.

It is also a mistake to believe that we cannot criticise Judaism as a religion. All religions must be open to scrutiny if they buttress patriarchy, homophobia, gross inequality, child exploitation or racism – as Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and all others have been known to do.

What we must be vigilant about, and firmly opposed to, is the demonisation of Jews as Jews. Antisemitism must be excised, as must all forms of racism. The struggle against antisemitism is not helped by such deliberate obfuscation as that presented by Birmingham J-Soc.Mike CushmanConvenor, Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods

• Malia Bouattia, the new president of the NUS whose election has proved so controversial, has spent years campaigning for causes such as the “decolonisation” of the curriculum at British universities or the “Rhodes must fall” movement at the universities of Cape Town and latterly Oxford.

She is clearly someone who has a deep appreciation for how the use of certain language or tropes – even if they do not explicitly express racist or prejudiced views – may, nonetheless, implicitly suggest such views and/or help reinforce certain negative or imperialist cultural stereotypes.

It is therefore strange that she has defended her description of the University of Birmingham as a “Zionist outpost [with] the largest J-Soc in the country”, and her use of language such as “Zionist-led media”, by saying that she has never explicitly expressed antisemitic views. Surely she can appreciate that, consciously or not (I am sure it is the latter), her use of such language and tropes might help reinforce negative stereotypes of Judaism and Jewish people. Alec BurtLondon

• The election of the first black woman as president of the NUS should be a matter for celebration, not recrimination. The fact that she is a secular, anti-racist Muslim should be an extra cause for joy.

It is a matter of regret that some Jewish students have put themselves alongside the tabloid press in their attacks on Malia Bouattia. I say some Jewish students, because those who are not Zionists or supporters of the Israeli state will not have signed their open letter.

Newspapers like the Mail and Express, which campaigned against the admittance of Jewish refugees in the 1930s, are now to the fore in attacking Malia. Their reasons are just as specious as when they were attacking the Jewish radicals of the East End in the last century. Malia stands, though she may not realise it, in the tradition of Rudolph Rocker, Aron Lieberman and the Jewish anarchists.

Malia has nothing to apologise for. Zionism is a political not a racial or ethnic category. That is why Jews have always been in the forefront of opposing this racist ideology. Her reference to Birmingham University being a “Zionist outpost” is no different than if someone was to refer to Sussex University as a radical or socialist outpost.

Let us hope that the Guardian can find it in it to welcome her election rather than joining in with the tabloid hue and cry.Tony Greenstein

• The refusal of the new NUS president and others to support a Kurdish solidarity motion that also condemned Isis – because, in Malia Bouattia’s words, “condemnation of Isis appears to have become a justification for war and blatant Islamophobia” – is symptomatic of a dangerous new meme that is both brainless and immoral (Student unions consider cutting ties with NUS, 23 April).

If we are unable to condemn the torture, rape and murder of Muslims, Yazidis and Christians because we see their killers as somehow standing in for all Muslims – or shape our view around those that will – we are no different from the racists. Some will even condemn the very reporting of Isis atrocities, rather than the atrocities themselves.

The fact that British education unions have barely said a word about the ongoing slaughter of Muslim students and lecturers by the religious right (in Kenya, Bangladesh, and even at a university in Pakistan named after that great Muslim anti-colonialist Bacha Khan) is a consequence of this simple-minded, unthinking – and ultimately racist – posture.

The absence of a principled position from people who should know better, and who are in such a position of influence, objectively encourages both the British far right and the far right within political Islam.Peter McKennaLiverpool

• A letter from Tony Greenstein was amended on 26 April 2016 to remove the name of the group, Jews for Jeremy. He was not writing on its behalf.